They are fining teachers a million VND for being sick. You have to call in days in advance to arrange to be sick or be fined a million. Teachers started with no contract, accepted classes, placements at various public schools, on a voluntary basis, then after months, this agency-company came up with a binding contract with fines of a million for each class if teachers quit the placements before the end of a year. It also included fines for being sick.

They are fining teachers a million VND for being sick. You have to call in days in advance to arrange to be sick or be fined a million. Teachers started with no contract, accepted classes, placements at various public schools, on a voluntary basis, then after months, this agency-company came up with a binding contract with fines of a million for each class if teachers quit the placements before the end of a year. It also included fines for being sick.

This sounds like a very bad place.

With conditions like that, I doubt they will get many teachers.

Or are they getting applicants?

I have been hearing some negative reports about the agencies that are now finding and placing teachers in public schools. It's another money-maker.

Are they getting applicants? Talk about revolving door. In the last year it was a who's who of the greatest stars in showbusiness. The trend today is putting teachers in classrooms of public schools. And, there were some official policy directives requiring that. So the cozy fix is in, being a broker or agent to hire foreign teachers for schools. Schools can not hire directly. Cui Bono? Rather than academic staff, there are "account managers" being the go between communicating with you and the school. The company takes at least %50. A great deal because they do not pay rent because it is at the off site location ie : the school. They are not efficient or ever in time to communicate with the staff of the school. Test days? Holidays? classroom changes? You are the first to know, not the company, as you are locked out or surprised with yet another change in routine. So you tell them, doing their job. Meanwhile , they are out getting new contracts , and usually before they have any teachers in mind. ( "can you please help me by subbing out in q.12 ? for one hour at 7:30 am?" just this one time?" The kids are great, but they deserve more than this. Schools should be able to hire directly and such middle men who don't pay rent or do anything to support the service that they do not provide should not be entitled to get a cut of your pay, or the public's money. Which is like %50. It is a disgrace to the profession.

The only way we can help is by not working for these 'agents'. But I suppose there is a surplus of people willing to work these days, what with the economic melt down and all.

Something similar was happening in Korea (maybe still is). The agency ran a double bank account scam where the school paid into their account (opened in your name) and the agency passed on your cut to the account you had actual access to. How anyone would fall for such an obvious rip off beats me.

Seems like a similar siuation.

As we all well know - if the powers that be wanted good quality native speaker EFL teachers in Vietnam they could implement policies to encourage us - rather than the opposite.

Are they getting applicants? Talk about revolving door. In the last year it was a who's who of the greatest stars in showbusiness. The trend today is putting teachers in classrooms of public schools. And, there were some official policy directives requiring that. So the cozy fix is in, being a broker or agent to hire foreign teachers for schools. Schools can not hire directly. Cui Bono? Rather than academic staff, there are "account managers" being the go between communicating with you and the school. The company takes at least %50. A great deal because they do not pay rent because it is at the off site location ie : the school. They are not efficient or ever in time to communicate with the staff of the school. Test days? Holidays? classroom changes? You are the first to know, not the company, as you are locked out or surprised with yet another change in routine. So you tell them, doing their job. Meanwhile , they are out getting new contracts , and usually before they have any teachers in mind. ( "can you please help me by subbing out in q.12 ? for one hour at 7:30 am?" just this one time?" The kids are great, but they deserve more than this. Schools should be able to hire directly and such middle men who don't pay rent or do anything to support the service that they do not provide should not be entitled to get a cut of your pay, or the public's money. Which is like %50. It is a disgrace to the profession.

I was WONDERING about this and how long it had been going on for in The South! I had assumed it all began there more than two or three years ago!!!

This situation where private English schools/centres would be.....uhhhhh....*ahem* "contracted" (for a nice little donation, of course) by a public school who's directive from the Ha Noi Department of Education and Training /Hai Phong Department of Education and Training was - "Go get yourself a Tay English Teacher!" - had begun in Ha Noi about two years ago and in Hai Phong about 14 months ago.

INSTEAD of going out, checking actual educational background, certificates and qualls and obtaining a high-quality English Language Instructor, these Public Schools established.....uhhhh....."good relationships" (read - one-hand-washes-the-other) with PRIVATE English Language Schools and Centres.

So, thusly, your Apollos, Sheltons, Dang Tuans, etc. etc. etc. have gone from being private English Language Centres into de facto employment agencies pawning off gullible newbie Tay teachers on the cheap to the Public Schools.

8-Ball - I had not heard that schools cannot hire Tay directly.....interesting.....